Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

To be able to achieve the necessary goals in the teaching of English, there are important

factors to be considered from nowadays. The teaching of reading is now indispensable not only

in our country but also throughout the world. This chapter presents the concepts and findings

from various literatures and studies which the researcher gathered from books, theses, journals

and other periodicals and online resources that are related to the present study.

Related Literature

The quest for better teaching procedures has been immensely strenuous, preserving and

widespread. Although experimental demonstration schools, and training suggestion, plans and

innovations, researchers have yet to discover the best methods and techniques that would

reinforce the skills of the students.

English teachers have been devising ways and means to facilitate learning. Varying

instruction makes a teacher more likely to meet and cater all the needs of the 21st century

learners of today‘s generation especially in Reading Skills.

Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is one of the most essential skills that should be developed and

nurtured in a child at home and in school because it is fundamental to success in academic life

and beyond. According to Al Noursi (2014), the ability to read for various purposes is a

precursor of a successful learning in schools, colleges, and universities. He further notes that it is

a survival skill in the 21st century may it be for students or professionals. Reading

comprehension, measured in number of correct responses, reached pre-established criteria.

Viewing the self-modeling videotapes was associated with reduced variability and maintenance

of increased performance. Follow-up indicated that gains maintained for six months. Teachers

and parents reported generalization to classroom and home. (Hitchcock, 2004)

Dagget and Hasselbring (2007), on the other hand, consider reading as ‘the key enabler of

learning for academic proficiency’. Hence, not being able to develop effective reading can have

adverse effects on learning across the curriculum, motivation to read, attitudes toward life, and

performances in the workplace. Reading comprehension is a complex cognitive process. It is

explored by educational researchers with its multidimensional components, processes, and

factors involved in different settings with the aim of finding better ways of developing it among

learners. Theoretically, reading comprehension is an interactive process of deriving meanings

from a text (Rumelhart, 1981).

Trehearne and Doctorow (2006) support this claim saying that it is an interaction of

different variables (reader, text, and environment) in a sociocultural context. In addition to the

components or variables that shape reading comprehension, there are also other more specific

elements or factors that influence one’s reading performance. These include students’ reading

attitudes or motivation, breadth and depth of engagement in reading, effective instruction on

comprehension techniques, rich vocabulary and world knowledge, fluency, text structure or

genre, opportunities for oral and written expression, and awareness on different reading

strategies. It is also viewed as a complex set of cognitive activities involving many skills and

dimensions such as ‘the perception of words, clear grasp of meaning, thoughtful reaction, and

integration’ (Hermosa, 2002, p. 63).

 There are different variables or components influencing the reading comprehension

performance of students. Some of these are vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge,

knowledge of grammar, metacognitive awareness, syntactic knowledge, and reading strategies

(Koda, 2005).

As matter of fact, Grabe & Stoller (2002) stated that reading comprehension is the ability

to understand information in a text and interpret it appropriately. The main objective here is to

teach the students to read the text and to understand it by understanding and relating its

constituents to teach other and to the student own experience. The process of reading

comprehension constitutes the first issue in defining the meaning of the word "literary".

Traditionally, the word literary is defined as the ability to read and write. A person who is not

capable of reading a word for instance, is totally illiterate. Fighting against illiteracy has become

as important issue in most countries especially in the third world. Perfetti, Landi, and Oakhill

(2004) also identified three higher-level factors in comprehension: sensitivity to story structure,

inference making, and comprehension monitoring.

Nergis (2013) also found out that depth of vocabulary knowledge, syntactic awareness,

and metacognitive awareness have influence on academic reading comprehension. Thus, the

former Department of Education Secretary Armin A. Luistro (2012) said that it is important to

assess the reading capability of students because reading is the foundation of all academic

learning. He added that if a pupil fails to master basic reading skills at the outset, it will be a

constant struggle for them to get through other disciplines successfully, thus depriving them of

the chance to become literate and productive individuals. Based on DepEd Memo No. 143, series

of 2012, teachers are still required to accomplish the pupil’s individual reading profile and

consolidate reports for the schools profile.

Metacognitive Reading Strategies

Metacognition basically refers to thinking about thinking. According to (Iwai, 2011),

metacognitive has three main aspects: metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive monitoring, and

self-regulation and control.

To support this, (Pintrich, Wolters & Baxter, 2000) viewed metacognitive in two

dimensions: 1) the knowledge of cognition which is made up of three factors such as declarative

knowledge (abilities and characteristics that affect cognitive processing), procedural knowledge

(using or implementing strategies), and conditional knowledge (assessment and reflection on the

effectiveness of the strategies used) and 2) the regulation of cognition which includes planning,

monitoring, testing, revising, and evaluating strategies.

Awareness and use of metacognitive reading strategies have positive and direct

relationship with reading comprehension performance; thus, students who use these strategies

perform better in reading proficiency tests / courses (Yuksel & Yuksel, 2012; Pressley 2014..,

etal). In addition to what Louca (2003) describes that metacognition as cognition about cognition

because it entails examining the brain’s processing during the reading / thinking process.

Reading as a cognitive process implies that metacognition or awareness and regulation of one’s

thinking during the reading process could lead to better comprehension.

According to Iwai (2011), metacognition is the key to reading comprehension since it is

found essential in the development of some linguistic, cognitive, and social skills. Metacognitive

approach can be summarized in three steps: 1) Planning; 2) Monitoring; and 3) Evaluation. In the

field of reading, metacognitive strategies are those activities that make students aware of their

thinking as they do reading tasks. In fulfilling a task using metacognition, a learner plans and

activates, then monitors, controls, reacts, and reflects (Pintrich, Wolters, & Baxter, 2000).
 Soria’s study (1998) conducted to determine the III- year highschool students’ level of

reading comprehension ability. She found out that her respondents generally have poor reading

comprehension in both teacher-made and tape instructions. Metacognitive reading strategy

awareness plays an important role in reading comprehension and educational process. Ditzel etal.

(2010)

Therefore, learning metacognitive reading strategy skills can be one solution to the

problem of poor reading comprehension, hence, the need for it to be developed and emphasized

in the EFL teaching and learning processes.

Related Studies

Various studies have been conducted regarding the use of task-based listening instruction.

On the other hand, some are connected to the focus of the current study which is listening. Most

of these studies have relevance in this study conducted by the researcher.

Most of Asian countries like Philippines where the medium of instruction for

communication is English. In school, it was one of the curriculums to be mandated in delivering

the lessons in such a way that it is also considered a skill to be developed by the learner. Having

this skill and strategies in reading with comprehension can be used as a tool for understanding

ideas, information and other facts that could help one person intellectual capacity.

In the study of Estacio (2013) of Bilingual Readers’ Metacognitive Strategies as

Predictors of Reading Comprehension, he for research purposes, the findings here open up many

possible tasks and topics for those interested in the field of metacognition in reading. Future

researchers may want to know if there are differences in bilingual participants’ use of

metacognitive reading strategies in both languages, and what variable or variables in one or both

languages will affect reading comprehension better. Other assessment tools, such as observation,
interview, think aloud protocols, are encouraged to be used to identify and describe the types of

strategies used, and even in the reading comprehension aspect to see if test method is indeed a

factor in this kind of a study. In the study of Alshumaimeri (2011), he found out that oral reading

method positively affects comprehension performance of Saudi students.

In the study of Umali (2012), with thirteen (13) respondents or 43% percent said they

disagree that they don’t have the skills and strategies on reading with comprehension test, but

eighty percent (80%) or 24 respondents agreed that reading strategies would improve their

reading comprehension in English and fifty-eight percent (58%) of them said that having high

score on reading comprehension test are very important. In addition to the study of Estacio

(2013), it was revealed that the use of the metacognitive reading strategies is a predictor of

reading comprehension test scores. In the study of Mermelstein (2014) also revealed that

extensive reading program significantly improves Taiwanese students’ reading comprehension

levels and performance.

In the study of Meniado (2016), the low reading comprehension performance of the

respondents may also imply that teachers and researchers do not have to focus only on

instructing metacognitive strategies to improve reading comprehension performance. Instead,

they also have to look into other cognitive, psychological, social, and linguistic factors affecting

students’ performance and do the necessary interventions. On proving the hypotheses of this

study within its context, it can be concluded that there exists a relationship between the students’

use of metacognitive reading strategies and reading motivation. This means that the students’

ability to use metacognitive reading strategies can develop or enhance their motivation to read.

In the same way, when students are highly motivated to read, the more they are explorative and

persistent in using variety of metacognitive reading strategies. Thus, in the study of Ilustre
(2011), he also investigated that metacognitive reading strategies are better predictor of text

comprehension and she found out that Problem Solving Strategies correlated positively with

reading comprehension.

Ismail and Tawalbeh (2015) conducted a quasi-experimental study examining the effect

of the metacognitive reading strategies on EFL low achievers in reading. The study revealed that

training on the use of metacognitive strategies among low achieving EFL readers improves

reading comprehension performance. Royanto (2012) also examined the effectiveness of an

intervention program based on scaffolding to improve metacognitive strategies in reading. She

found out that the program activated unused metacognitive strategies, leading to the conclusion

that the learners have the metaknowledge.

While most studies found positive correlations and effects of metacognitive strategies on

reading comprehension, some found quite the opposite. Alsamadani (2009) explored the

frequency and type of metacognitive reading strategies used by the Saudi EFL college-level

students and correlated them to their EFL reading performance. He found out that Saudis more

frequently use planning strategies than attending and evaluating strategies. He also found out that

the students’ use of metacognitive reading strategies does not influence their comprehension

level. Mehrdad, Ahghar, and Ahghar (2012) also found out that use of cognitive and

metacognitive instruction does not always have a positive effect on the EFL students’ reading

comprehension performance. Further, in the study of Geske and Ozola (2008), socio economic

factors in the family, collaboration of a student and family, student’s reading outside the school,

and student’s reading at school emerged as significant factors affecting comprehension.